Whoohoo! That's a pumpkin blossom!!! Congrats!
(((hugs)))

CAP,
I lurve Van Morrison too!!
And I've just recently discovered the singing cards. Where have I been? They are most fabulous.

That is a female blossom. Pupmkins (& other squash relatives)have male & female blossoms. You have to have both to get any fruit. Happy farming!

I think it's funny that you like to move out of the motorcyclists' way so that they can drive between the lanes! This is one of my biggest peeves in life! I want to move further OVER the dotted line to block their way! Why do they think they are above waiting in traffic like the rest of us? *shakes fist at motorcyclists who cruise between the lanes!* Your time is not more valuable than mine just because you drive a thinner vehicle! Ditto to those of you who drive a mile in the breakdown lane to get to the next exit instead of waiting in the traffic! I get a super thrill when you get pulled over! Ooh, I'm all riled up now!

I need to work on being a better humanitarian such as yourself Laurie!

Yay on the pumpkin blossom!

I wanted to pass on a blog to you. My sister sent me this link and I'm hooked. And lately when I'm reading her blog I think of you, so I think you should read it, too. :) It's the Pioneer Woman Cooks and she has some awesome recipes and such. :)

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

Enjoy!

Beeautiful pumpkin pictures, I can smell the good garden scent. A gardening quote that makes me smile is "putting a pumpkin in your garden is like letting your camel put his nose in your tent'! Looks as if there will be some gorgeous pumpkins this fall...hmmm, cat with huge pumpkins photos? too :) Thanks for the great information, this post is packed with resources!

I love your list of joys. It sure is good to reflect on them. Someone told me that if the vines of two different kinds of vine-y plants touch, it ruins what you are trying to grow and you get some kind of weird hybrid. I do not know if that is true, but if it is, it could be bad for your pumpkins, and zucchini right? I do not know about these things, but I pass along what could be good or silly information in case it could help or amuse you.

Wow look at your veggies!!!! I am growing beans and carrots for the first time... my first foray into vegetable gardening. I hope mine turn out half as nice as yours! Good luck with those 100lb pumpkins though, sheesh!

Gardening is such a curious way to have fun, and you just never know what you're going to get! I tried the "Cinderella" pumpkins one year-- you know the sort of flat oval kind that Cinderella's carriage was turned into? Got the seeds at Callaway Gardens in Georgia-- that was a beautiful pumpkin, but can't find the seeds here (Miss.)
Yep, Scottish accents. Whenever I hear one, my inner stream of consciousness talks like that for the rest of the day.
You give good karma for all your kindnesses. Some feel better when they give, some feel better when they taketh away. My fear of conflict makes me a people-pleaser, so I prefer to give an inch. But I understand that some folks are justice seekers and have a need to lay down the law for the likes of the dot-riding cyclists. It takes all kinds! It really does. I like the extremists, so that I may continue to live in the middle.

Congratulations on your baby pumpkin! (I feel like I'm congratulating you on being pregnant.)

Congrats on your baby pumpkin! What a nice surprise it must be to go out every couple of days and see that growth! Very cool! Be sure to take more pictures as it grows--by the time it reaches that ginormous size you will not believe how small it once was.

I remember reading in the book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder that Almanzo, when he was young, grew something called a milk-fed pumpkin and it is described in the book--just in case you are feeling bold and want to do a little mad science on one of your pumpkin to be.

A 23 pound zucchini?? Now that's a big a$$ squash! Sounds delicious!

Oh yes - 100 lb pumpkins are totally possible. In fact, the Mat-Su valley in Alaska (where I'm from) is world renown for their HUGE veggies. I think at the fair a couple of years ago there was a pumpkin that looked to be the size of a VW Beetle. Might make another interesting flckr search. :0)
Avocados - yum!

As a frequent rider on the back of a motorcycle (my fiance is the driver) thanks for scooting over to give them some extra room. Also, super jealous of your beautiful garden - we just bought our first house and have the closing this week. Not sure if we have time to plant any fruits/vegetables for this season or if it is too late, but I know I have plenty of weeds to pull this weekend after the closing. Happy pumpkin growing!

I have been hooked on Epicurious.com for years. Love that site.

If your pumpkin gets large enough, bring up to Half Moon Bay in October. They have a contest every year. I would never get to that stage though because I love flor de calabasa. In soup. In quesadillas...

Nice blossom. If you like apartment therapy check out design sponge, www.designspongeonline.com It's my fav design blog of the moment. And I love seeing the "before and after" projects - makes me want to troll thrift stores for hidden treasure.

PS thanks for the link to the Chez Larsson site. Ahhh the organization!. I was cracking up at the identical sets of adidas in the shoeshine organizer. I love to get inspired to clean and purge and organize by looking at magazines and websites. Also, watching old episodes of "How Clean is Your House?" on YouTube can really light a fire under me! THAT will scare you into action!

Epicurious DOES rock.

I'm wondering if Gold Bond lotion indeed has a "light, fresh scent". Neutrogena foot cream is magic, but the smell is so horrendous that I rarely use it and store it in a baggie so as to not fall over from the stench if I don't need to.

I totally agree with the scooting-over-for-the-motorcyclist feeling. :) i commute on the santa monica freeway and have this horrible habit of looking in my sideview mirror to watch for bikers and shifting a little to give them way. i love it even more when a scary looking+harley davidson riding+black leather jacket wearing motorcyclist gives the V for victory sign or pumps his fist in the air to say thanks...and passes by. that's enough for me to smile all my way to office. :) love your list. long time lurker here. going back into lurk mode.
aj

Laurie -
I am totally with you on the Gold Bond lotion. For some reason, I have itchy ankles (TMI?) and that stuff is amazing.

Grocery Store Story:
On Sunday we got up early to get the grocery shopping out of the way. One great thing about going early is there are no other people there. However, there are also no checkers. A nice checker called us over as she opened a new lane - the express lane. Well, as we pushed our 2 loaded down buggies over (yeah, I know - 2), A grouchy old guy came up and chewed me out for having more than 10 items. Then, when I explained that the checker had called us over, he went over to her and chewed her out.

I would have let him go first if he had asked nicely.

Thanks very much for giving the motorcycles a scosh more room. Riding on the line is called "lane-splitting" and California is about the only place in America you can do it. It's not illegal everywhere else, but the car and truck drivers aren't willing to share, and a crowding truck can kill a rider. As far as why a car driver should let the bikes do it? The person on the bike is getting 45+ mpg, is out in the weather, and it's just a nice thing to do. Why should the bike rider have to sit in traffic breathing your fumes just because you drive a wider vehicle? It's all a matter of point of view. Thanks Laurie!

Heidi -- I am notoriously fickle about smells and I can't stand anything heavy smelling. I am fine with the Gold Bond (I use the variety that has aloe vera in it) and it does have a very faint fragrance but it's not too heavy for me and I am PICKY PICKY with fragrance of any kind. Your mileage may vary....

Lovely post. And thanks for introducing me to some new websites. There are a couple of blogs I visit that make me happy: http://simplybreakfast.blogspot.com/ which shows exactly what its name describes - breakfast vignettes - without words (in fact, I get a little grumpypants when she does write anything!) but you still get a feeling about her from the dishes, linens, food and occasional reading material; and http://liiviantalossa.blogspot.com/ a Finnish blog with amazing photos - not being able to read it is not a handicap because the photos are so evocative (and she travels so you get photos of other places too).
And lest you think I only enjoy blogs without words -- your blog makes me happy too!

A list of things you like: what a nice thing to write about! We should all reflect more often on the good things and try to minimize the negativity. M

If your pumpkin gets too big for its britches, trellis it. I practice square foot gardening, and pumpkins usually require a ton of horizontal space, but you can go vertical and they'll be happy!

Alli -- I was wondering about that but how can a vine support a 100-pound fruit on a trellis? Wouldn't it break?

Thank you for having Barbara Bretton in the margin of your blog. I picked up a book by her at the library. Love the library! After a huge credit card bill last month, I am going on the non-essential non-spending diet for the month of June. Except for the library used book sale-books are essential!

Harper thank you for those links!!! The simply breakfast one -- what an awesome idea. I ADORE food pictures.

For MY Scottish accent fix, I watch Craig Ferguson on The Late, Late Show. YUMMY!
.

I traveled to southern Africa (Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa) several years ago and one of the interesting foods eaten in that region was pumpkin leaves. They would cook them with a ground peanut sauce and it was quite yummy. They also ate cooked pumpkin in the same way we eat cooked squash, as a general side dish. One of the joking comments I heard from a host was that "of course, they'd have to leave some leaves on the pumpkin plant in order for the plant to grow pumpkins." I wonder if one can each zucchini leaves?

As for trellising a pumpkin, it can be done. The trellis must be very sturdy and well-grounded, first. Then you tie a support to the trellis for the pumpkin, sort of like as a sling or hammock. And if you want a 100 pounder, then you have to do some special tricks. I'm sure you'll just be happy with one, good pumpkin.

Ooh! It's going to be The Great Pumpkin of 2008! Excitement!

Yay pumpkin! I used to put charcoal ash on the vines to keep the nasty bugs away. There's one bug that will chew right through the vine if you let it.

I've always been with Bertha on motorcycles -- they really aren't supposed to do that -- but I may have to rethink that. Why hold someone else up if it won't benefit me in any way?

great list, Laurie! But what KIND of mascara??

I'm sure I'm not the only one to mention this, but 2 things about your pumpkin (that I discovered last year when I planted my fiurst pumkin and it overtook my ENTIRE backyard - also in So Cal):

Unless you want a dozen smallish pumpkins (which is purely personal choice, but I didn't know what to do with a dozen pumpkins and surprisingly no one wanted them) - keep your plant trimmed to one main vine, and just one or two pumpkins - that will result in larger pumpkins and a smaller plant.

Also, anything other than a sugar pumpkin is not going to make good eating, except for seeds, so don't try it! Too much water content! Don't try to make a pie!!! : )

Mascara. Really, it's the only thing I don't EVER leave home without!

Pumpkin blossoms are also edible - we used to flour & fry them. Another trick you can do with the pumpkins as they grow - once they're about 6-8 inches, use a nail, screwdriver, etc and lightly scratch through the skin and add a design. When you're ready to decorate with them in the fall, your design is already there. You can leave it as is or use it as a cutting guideline if you're doing a jack-o'lantern. My grandma used to bake pumpkins (whole, she cut out the top, scooped the seeds, then baked). That's how she got her pumpkin for pies and yes, only certain pumpkins are good for pies.

As a tie in to your "no buying" spree, I found a radio station on the internet called Pandora Radio. www.pandora.com

You go there and type in any music at all, such as Van Morrison. Then it will play his music and other music like him. You can make as many stations as you want...and here's the best part, it's free!

I many never buy another CD again. I just wanted to tell you. Maybe you all ready know about it.

Also, can someone tell me again what the name of the best underwear in the whole world is again? The kind you buy at the Target?

I need to go buy some and I can't figure out what they are called!

Thanks ya'all.

Sandy -- I like the Gillian and O'Malley underwear, the cotton ones don't seem to ride up so bad. I find if I buy them a size larger they work even better. Maybe I am in fact a size larger but anyway....

Perhaps Linus be lurking out in your raised bed come Halloween? Who knows when the 'Great Pumpkin' will arrive?!?!?

BUT...are you gonna grow square pumpkins? You devoted readers await with baited breath.

Ack! Now I want to stroll through all those yummy websites, and I've gotta work *pouts*.

Thanks for letting us motorcyclists lane-split. It's a shame when spiteful motorists try to block us out of jealousy. It's just so unproductive! I mean, who's the one using more gas, I tellz ya! :) Love your garden. Gorgeous!

Ah ha! Ok, the best book I ever read on finding out your own personal home design was "What color is your slipcover" and I got it from the library so you don't have to be all spendy to read it.

Also... having grown up on a farm I know the secret to growing super huge pumpkins. My sister and I grew two 300 pounders once.

I love the new radio station in LA, 100.3. Id I didn't know better I'd think they took all of my records and cds and used them to create the format of the station.

Yay for pita pizzas!

Hi,

Your pumpkin blossom is beautiful!

Here's a link to my Flickr photos of my two cutie pie rex kittens. The white one is no longer a kitten, he just turned 1 last week.

http://flickr.com/photos/16855383@N03/

Love the new radio station. found 100.3 about a month ago and I am hooked!!! Love the garden!

Hi Laurie: Thank you for the tip about the peat moss mixed with potting soil. I replanted my dwarf lemon tree over the weekend in the peat moss and potting mix mixture. Now I pray that my black thumb didn't taint the soil and it will grow!!!

http://www.pumpkinshow.com/

These people know about big pumpkins and then some.

Laurie, both our local Gelson's has Cascadian Farms!! I've been hooked for years, too.

You've got to get your hands on this documentary from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/previews/lordsofthegourd/

Thrills, chills and spills, I swear!

And for endless peeking into lovely rooms: http://www.designspongeonline.com/

I'm so envious that you found the Cascadian French Green Beans with Almonds. No one around here carries them any more. At all. Makes me very sad.

As for musical cards, have you found Hoops and Yoyo yet? (Hallmark) They're awesome.

Oh, I might have to go buy that Van Morrison cd.

Anyways, you might want to thin out the pumpkins on the vine once they've started to develop. Especially if you want a REALLY big one. That way, the vine can put all of it's energy into fewer pumpkins (hey - you have two vines - you can thin out one of them but not the other and compare the difference! SCIENCE! IT'S FUN!) Might also help with the water usage, since you live near the edge of hell and all (and I say that with some envy, since it's currently 60 degrees and raining here in upstate NY)

I can just see Soba poised on top of a GIANT pumpkin in full Halloween cat pose....daunting to all trick or treaters!!
You are great and so inspiring and I must also ditto what an earlier commenter wrote about Pioneer Woman.
Happy gardening!

Gold Bond Powder burned my skin so badly I have scars..be really careful with that stuff

100 pounds?!? Did those tiny plants come with a free forklift rental when you bought them?

Go to the Sherman Williams color visualizer:

http://www.sherwin.com/visualizer/

Answer the questions, and you'll discover what colors "fit" with you. It worked pretty well for me. And it's free, colorful and fun.

I will be entirely impressed with you if you grow a 100 lb. pumpkin!

You've given me major surfing suggestions. You know, The Pioneer Woman has a chocolate cake recipe that sounds suspiciously like your Oma's.

Pumpkins. There was a dish at a local Afghan restaurant called Kaddo described as pan-fried then baked baby pumpkin seasoned with sugar served on yogurt garlic sauce and topped with meat sauce. It is SO GOOD.

Isn't it Indie 101.3?? You don't want people looking for the wrong station but I could be wrong too. Also how do you have the time to write so much??? I can barely answer an e-mail.....

Thanks for liking the Scottish accent, I kinda like it too and seeing as how I am Scottish and live in Dundee, Scotland I get to hear it every day :-)

There are a great variety of accents within Scotland, I wonder which one you like best? For me it's a toss-up between Glaswegian (probably cos that's where my Grandad was from) or Fife (that's where my Mum is from)

Gold Bond is made in Chattanooga. I always get excited when I see that far away people are into a hometown product. (Little Debbie, Moon Pies and Krystal burgers, anyone?)

Don't panic if the first blossoms fall off, baby pumpkin and all. Sometimes there aren't any male blossoms open yet and the females aren't pollenated, they don't grow.

I'm glad it doesn't work that way for humans!

Laurie- You must go to Netflix and get "Lords of the Gourd" if you want the lowdown on big pumpkin growing. Quirky documentaries are one of my favorite things and this one is certainly that!

I always love it when I discover that a group of people share a passion for something that never occurred to me. And attempting to grow the biggest pumpkin at the fair is one of those.

Now I'm off to click on the Living Rooms Around the World link - that sounds like fun!

Thanks for sharing the things you like with us. I'm looking forward to checking the links out.
Your Pumpkin Plant is huge, I love the flower, it's pretty, but not in the most conventional way.

You'll love this site:

http://www.wallwords.com/

If you go to the custom quotes page, you can enter whatever words you want, choose fonts and colors, and then preview what it will look like. Fabulous fun!

If you like epicurious, you may also like hungry-girl.com. Give it a look-see sometime.

Thanks for the Gold Bond lotion tip! I'm constantly looking for lotions for my super dry skin.

And you should come up to the Bay Area in October if you want to see gi-nor-mous pumpkins. Half Moon Bay has a pumpkin festival and last years winner was over 1200 pounds.
http://www.miramarevents.com/pumpkinfest/

My Webkinz (a chihuahua) is growing a garden.

Does that count? He's making all sorts of KinzCash by selling his harvested veggies.

I am growing real roses in my front yard right now. My favorites are the Henry Fonda roses. They're a really beautiful yellow color, and the roses seem to last forever on these things...the knockout roses last a day or two, and then they're gone.

We have about 4 or 5 different types of roses in our front yard, and one in the backyard along the end of the yard.

HMMMM - 120 days to maturity. You should have your giant pumpkin just in time to carve it into a coach for Halloween, and go as Cinderella.

Good luck finding 4 white mice to turn into horses, though!

Your posting today just made me happy to read. Thank you. Now I'll go water my garden, which isn't nearly as productive, but a happy place in its own way.

100 pound pumpkins??? omgosh. that'll be a LOT of pumpkin pies.
cool.

Ok. If you want the pumpkins to grow really, really big, make sure you only let one squash per vine to mature---you will need to cut off the others on the vine. For some great tips on growing pumpkins, check out http://www.howarddill.com/
Happy growing!

Game on! I've got a big max pumpkin growing well....I plan to win this (totally in my head) who can grow the biggest pumpkin contest ;)

I like the dark chocolate M & Ms, Stephen Colbert, and when my dog chases his tail.

Oh, and if you want to find your decorating style, this quiz is pretty good. Most of them are a little simplistic but I thought this one rocked. www.hgtv.com/webhgtv/images/pac/64071/quiz/q1.html
It is from an HGTV show that is kind of fun.

Yay for pumpkins!

Ok, so the first time I grew a pumpkin plant I was a grad student living in San Diego and I had a little tiny community garden plot. I had 4 pumpkins that grew, and I named each one.

Two years ago (before my divorce) I had two pumpkin plants, one regular jack-o-lantern pumpkin, and one "baby" pumpkin plant. I got several dozen pumpkins off each plant! None got to be 100 pounds, but all together I grew more than 100 pounds of pumpkins! I'm so excited for you--and jealous. This is my first summer being divorced and I'm back to being in an apartment, so no pumpkins for me this year.

I love it that you love Scottish accents, being Scottish I definitley have the accent.

And avocados. One of my things-to-do-before-I-die is to sit under a lemon tree eating avocados. I would sit under an avocado tree, but apparently they fall without warning, and smack you like cricket balls. Being smacked by hard fruit is not on my to-do list, I'm hoping lemons don't do that so much.

And I love how you are so like a proud mama with your baby pumpkin. I can't wait to see it take its first steps.

I love love love your list! And thanks for all of the links. That should keep me busy for days!
Sara

I love Gold Bond too -- must be a Southern thing. And my dad is addicted to it. He always puts some in my stocking at Christmas and brings it to me here in the Netherlands whenever he and Mom visit. Since my husband, Simon, likes to call it "Old Bond" -- due to the slight medicinal smell -- Daddy usually hides a tube somewhere for him.
Oh, the powder is good too.

Can you imagine carving a 700 pound pumpkin for Halloween? Just think of all the pumpkin seeds you could have, YUM.

CAP, forgot to tell you: here is how you can prevent the zucchinis from taking over your life; go eat the blossoms! In Italy there are recipes with zucchini flowers stuffed (nice ricotta paste with lots of herbs in) or you dip them in batter and fry them. People wanting more zucchini fruits restrict themselves to the male flowers, others use as many as they can :-)

Love the gold bond lotion with menthol in it, problem is so do my cats. They attack me when I put it on. It must smell a lot like catnip... because they go crazy and want to lick it, and when I try to stop them, they swat my hand and bite me.

To hell with all those science-y names for things like sphagmotes and grizznards - that for sure is a BABY PUMPKIN! Oh, and I know now you ARE your Wisconsin Bubbeh's favorite little lambkin because I TOO love a lot of those things. Especially avocados - I make an avocado-bacon sammich with mayonnaise mixed with a healthy bloppo of Pick-a-peppah. Mmm...oh, and speaking of recipes, you know you can make many delicious yummos with your pumpkins too. I bet you get a lot of pies outta 700 lbs. pumpkin.

Can't wait to get my paws on those links. Love the list of things to love; I'd add Bobby Brown cream blush, lead pencils (biodegradeable packaging!) and Lapsang Souchong tea. I have my moon in Cancer, and I love home more with each passing year, particularly the kitchen (tho' Lord knows it's nothing fancy).

A great list! Reminds me of the book 14,000 things to be happy about!

http://www.xanga.com/NikkiNoodlez/542839599/item.html

I wish I knew how to do a link....but this is a little some thing about pumpkins you might like to take a look at.

WEB SHERIFF
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com
www.websheriff.com

Hi Laurie,

On behalf of Exile Productions and Exile Publishing, many thanks for plugging Van Morrison's new album and, if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, full versions of "That's Entrainment" and "Behind The Ritual" (along with album track samplers) are available for fans and bloggers to listen to (and link to) on Lost Highway's web-site at http://www.losthighwayrecords.com .

Up-to-the-minute info on Keep It Simple and Van’s 2008 shows is, of course, also available on www.vanmorrison.com and www.myspace.com/vanmorrison and, for a limited period, you can still hear Van's exclusive BBC concert at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/r2_vanmorrison and you can also see his BBC sessions at http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/vanmorrison/video/ .

Thanks again for your support.

Regards,

WEB SHERIFF

Oh, you'll want to move the zucchini, or they'll cross-pollinate and you'll have pumpkini and zumpkins! Yes, I learned this the hard way.

Apartment Therapy is my Pr0n, baby! I figure out ways to look like I'm working so I can scope the gorgeousness when I'm tied to my desk. The Small Cool Contest was so addicting! In the fall, they will have an 8-week get organized marathon that you can join (organized by city!) and post pics on Flickr. *sigh*

Gold Bond Lotion I totally love too cause I have really dry feet that crack in the summer. I am trying to be better about using it daily!

Flickr rocks and I so love a lot of the places you look every day!

I too love some of the ideas on Apartment Therapy. Have you checked out Uncluterer?

I love iced tea and discovered last summer how to make your favorite hot tea in to iced tea. not so hard. Especially with this nifty iced tea container I got at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It has a removable central tube that you put ice in so it doesn't dilute your tea!

Scottish accents I love too. My hubby (and all his mates + my dad) wore kilts at our wedding. You can see some posts of those photos on my blogpost (www.paisleypenguin.blogspot.com) of Thursday May 8 of this year.

Love reading your blog!

Not that it's a big deal or anything, but cilantro is coriander. Here in Mexico-influenced SoCal, we call the leaves "cilantro" and call the seeds "coriander". It's one of the few spices that grow outside the tropics.

What will you do with a 700 pound pumpkin? You'll need an axe just to cut it form the vine! Hello, Jack!

Also, lane-splitting is allowed for motorcycles because their engines are air-cooled (no fancy-schmancy radiators) and they would over-heat if they sat still. It's not JUST to annoy the folks in their cars as they sit in traffic!

Vespa anyone? 90 mpg and right smart looking!

Love your lists!

Iced tea. LOVE iced tea. And always look forward to heading to Wmburg, Va where we can get "southern iced tea." Not sure what the difference is, but it tastes wonderful. Such a treat!

Be prepared for that pumpkin to take over your yard. I had a huge bed (so I thought) for my pumpkins and they decided to take a stroll over my lawn into my other garden bed.

Check out www.pumpkinnook.com for information from picking seeds to hand-pollinating to caring for your pumpkins as they grow. It has real step-by-step how to grow pumpkin information.

I like courtesy at the check-out line, too. Makes you feel like people aren't as bad as the media make us all out.

Be really careful about cross-pollination.

A few years ago, my neighbor, who already had fennel, planted some dill nearby. Turns out they're 1st cousins or something, and the inbred result is FrankenFennel!!

It's about 8 ft. high, really deep-rooted, prolific, and tastes like a combination of dill and licorice 8-b . It has really pretty fronds, and helps choke out weeds - but other than that, NOT GOOD!

In Rome we ate squash blossoms that had been stuffed with cheese and then fried.

Good luck with the zucchini! You can make z. bread, rolls, cookies, cakes, egg dishes, pancakes and clever little gift baskets for neighbors. You may eventually have to leave these baskets on their doorsteps in the dark of night .. because they will tell you that they never want to see you with a basket over your arm again. I had to learn to control my squash plants before they overtook my world. It was a fun green summer that year. I delighted in getting zucchini into foods the kids never knew had the dreaded squashes included. ENJOY your trip into garden world. I fully believe that if all the world had a garden, any size, and had to spend part of every day on their knees, butt in the air and hands deep in dirt, the world would naturally be a better and more peaceful productive place.